Last spring, Android Wear got started with the announcements of the LG G Watch and the Motorola Moto 360, but it wouldn’t be until a few months later when the first hardware actually arrived. And while the Moto 360 would remain in the shadows until even later in the year, the G Watch found itself joined by another model as they marked the platform's commercial debut: the Samsung Gear Live. In the months that followed, LG released additional Android Wear models, but the Gear Live remained Samsung's sole Android Wear experiment. Now that experiment may be drawing to a close, as the Gear ...

One of the biggest differences between Android proper and the version of the OS meant specifically for wearables is the fact that no OEM skins are allowed – this means that updates, once released by Google, can immediately start hitting devices from an assortment of manufacturers. That's exactly what's happened today, with the Android 4.4W.2 update hitting Android Wear devices with a bunch of new features and bug fixes. The rollout began earlier today, with the LG G Watch and G Watch R (unreleased, save for the few review units out in the wild) seeing the update first. The update, build ...

Earlier this week, Google announced the next version of its mobile operating system: Android 5.0 Lollipop. The new software development kit (SDK) should be released sometime later today (October 17th), and ROMs for the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Google Play edition devices should start to roll out "in the coming weeks". What about Android Wear? Why weren't wearables powered by Android mentioned, and what will Android Lollipop do for smartwatches? Watch Face API Searching the Play Store for watch faces for Android Wear will bring up dozens of results. Some look great, others, ...

Back in the summer, before Apple launched its Apple Watch and when Android Wear was only just seeing its third model announced, we were talking about the idea of a Microsoft smartwatch – one that was said to come out this very month, in fact. Those rumors may have seriously cooled down in recent months, but Microsoft is still clearly thinking a lot about smartwatches. Over the weekend, news of a surprising smartwatch effort from the company emerged, not in the advancement of any Microsoft-branded wearables, but as it shared word of an experimental keyboard it had baked up for Android ...

The purported iWatch was one of the longest running rumors in the mobile space, but it was finally put to rest last week when Apple took the stage at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts last week. It announced the two new iPhones, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, and the highly-anticipated watch, simply Apple Watch. Apple covered some of the most intricate details about its upcoming watch in a 10-minute video. It details the design of the watch, the uniqueness of the personalized straps, the UI, and its innovative navigation method dubbed the Digital Crown. Apple ...

We've got Android Wear. We've got Samsung's proprietary Gear line-up. We've got Pebble. Even Sony has some skin in the game. You probably won't find anyone who would argue with you that those are all "smartwatches". But they're all so different from one another! That got us scratching our heads: what is a smartwatch? According to Wikipedia: "A smartwatch (or smart watch) is a computerized wristwatch with functionality that is enhanced beyond timekeeping, and is often comparable to a personal digital assistant (PDA) device. While early models can perform basic tasks, such as calculations, ...

Back in "the day", telephones were made up of a round speaker connected to a round microphone via a handle. To call someone, you picked up the "handset" from the "receiver" and "dialed" the number. The reason we still use that term today is because the apparatus for inputting our contact's phone number was a round dial. You'd stick your finger in the hole that represented the number you wanted, rotate the dial until it stopped, pull out your finger, and wait while it returned back to the starting position. This wasn't such a chore when only four digits were required to call someone. Then ...

We've got a winner! Congratulations, Isaac Rodriquez: you're getting a Nexus 5 and the Android Wear smartwatch of your choice! Everyone else, check back next week, only this time instead of Monday, we'll be bringing you word of our new contest on Wednesday. ___ Last week, we saw our second Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G LTE giveaway draw to a close. And as it did so, it marked the end of the last contest we announced back at the start of July, for our month of giveaways. So, is that all she wrote? Not hardly. We're expanding that month of giveaways to a summer of giveaways, and if you were ...

To say I've been excited about Google Now on a smartwatch is a bit of an understatement. I've ranted about how Google Now and wearables were a match made in heaven more than once. And the minute Android Wear was announced, I stopped what I was doing and vented about my buyer's remorse over the $250 I had just spent on Pebble Steel. Things have changed somewhat, though, and I'm now perfectly okay – even quite pleased – with Pebble Steel. Android Wear has finally hit virtual shelves and the launch hardware is, dare I say, boring and bland. And turns out, our Michael Fisher found the new ...

I'm more connected than ever before, and I have the smartwatch to thank for it. To those who think we're already too deeply mired in the muck of always-on communications, that might not sound appetizing – but smartwatches don't exist merely to bring us more connectivity; the good ones connect us to the world in a smarter way. Skeptics of the new category focus mainly on its redundancy, which is a fair point (why wear a smartwatch when I can just pull my phone out instead?). But once you've worn one for a while, you realize just how useful it can be to have notifications and simple ...

Google hasn't necessarily taken the world by storm with its Android Wear offerings. Some people claim to still be waiting for the Moto 360, and others have found that being an early adopter is not such a good idea. If you read Michael Fisher's reviews on the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live, you'll learn that even though these two products are cool, their biggest shortcomings are found within their software. Basic issues like not allowing developers to create custom watch faces is one of them, and Google has decided to end the complaints with a statement. Wayne Piekarski, a senior ...

Two of the hottest products in consumer electronics right now are the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, the first in a wave of Android Wear-flavored wearable devices. Both have bene fairly hard to get by if you're a Google Play-hater, but now Android Wear availability has expanded to both Best Buy and Google's own Shopping Express service. The prices haven't changed for both Best Buy and Shopping Express, though first-time buyers on Shopping Express get a 10-dollar discount. Shopping Express is also limited to a very specific list of regions, while Best Buy is pretty much nationwide ...

There are folks out there who don’t have the time for a ten-minute video or a 3,000-word review, and they certainly don’t have an hour to absorb a meandering podcast (no matter how many awards it’s won). These people might be sneaking a quick YouTube fix on a bathroom break, trying to make a point to a rival smartphone owner at a bar, or even standing in line at a wireless retail store, waiting to make a purchase. They need the facts delivered quickly, with a minimum of window dressing and a firm conclusion in as little time as possible. For them, we’ve created the 60-Second ...

Out of the two Android Wear watches currently on the market, the Samsung Gear Live is the one that stands out more, in that it's not just a giant black slab like the LG G Watch (not that that's a bad thing). In practical usage, though, how exactly does the watch do? In terms of specs, the Gear Live sounds an awful lot like a midrange smartphone, just without cellular radios. There's a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 320x320, and a 300 mAh battery. The brains are made up by a 1.2 GHz processor, and there are 512MB of RAM. There's 4GB of on-board storage space, with no ...

Without a doubt, two of the hottest smartwatch platforms right now are Pebble and Android Wear. Many speculated after the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live went live on the Play Store that Pebble's reign would come to a close, but is that really justified? We take a look in our Android Wear vs Pebble video. There are two representatives for both platforms -- Pebble has the original plastic version, and the premium Steel version, while Android Wear currently is touted by the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live (with the Moto 360 just on the horizon). While looks vary greatly between devices of ...

Only days after the unboxing of Android Wear devices across the United States, it seems Google is hard at work in making these products as reliable as possible. The company pushed a software update to these devices a few days ago, and if you thought those minor bug fixes were all these devices needed, that's far from accurate. The company has just pushed yet another software update today dubbed KMV78X, and given the lack of details of what this update includes, speculation has begun. One of the biggest disappointments is that this software update apparently doesn't fix the paid apps bug ...

We've unboxed and directly compared the first two official smartwatches from Google (and if you need a refresher, the videos are embedded below for your viewing pleasure). It's gonna take us a few days to rassle up a full review of each new Android Wear device though, so in the meantime we thought those of you who aren't so hip to the YouTubes might like to see the smartwatches in still life in an Android Wear gallery. Below you'll find a series of snapshots taken during the course of filming our latest round of Android Wear videos. The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live came to us in ...

Many of you are in the same dilemma: buy one of the available Android Wear watches now, or wait on the hotly-anticipated Moto 360 from Motorola? Since we have the first two in-house, we thought to pit them head to head in a full LG G Watch vs Samsung Gear Live comparison video. At first glance, both of these watches look incredibly similar -- square slabs of Android Wear goodness. But when you look beyond their outer layers, you realize how different the hardware really is. The similarities end for the most part at the OS, IP67 certification, and similar looks. We go over just how much ...

If you're like us, you're already enjoying your unboxing experience with whichever Android Wear device you chose. Google's approach to wearables is currently gaining traction, and as such, finding compelling apps for these devices will be quite difficult for the next couple of weeks. That being said, there are some really neat apps already available, though it seems that Google is having some trouble allowing you to install them. A new bug that was reported over the weekend claims that early adopters of Android Wear devices are struggling to get paid applications installed on their ...

Neither is the smashing circular sensation of the Moto 360, but neither is by any means ugly – and aesthetic considerations aside, sometimes there's something to be said for promptness. The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are the two devices gracing our review desk on today's Android Wear unboxing, the smartphone accessories Google has chosen to redefine the role of a smartwatch. We're not strangers to wearables around these parts, of course. Some of us backed the Pebble long before that device and its descendents came to our professional attention, while others put their money on ...

Powering a smartwatch can be tricky business. Most of us aren't used to the need to charge our (non-smart) watches weekly (if not daily), so if manufacturers want the public to embrace their products, they really need to make this chore as easy and seamless as possible. For companies like Motorola, that's meant taking advantage of the latest wireless charging tech, while other OEMs go with a charging cradle of one form or another that physically connects to the watch. While you might think that a simple cradle would be a lot more straightforward than a wireless system (and less prone to ...

Android Wear devices are only just getting into the hands of users. If you got your order in the minute the watches hit Google Play, your shipment may be on its way to your doorstep right now, and devs who attended Google I/O have already brought their smartwatches home. With the Android Wear floodgates now open, the wearables are quickly starting to fall into the same sort of routine we're used to from Android phones, and as if to prove that point, a pair of software updates has already become available. Both the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live are receiving small updates bringing ...

Right on time (ish), Google has lifted the veil on the new Android Wear section of its Play Store, putting both the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live up for preorder, with shipments starting July 8th. In case you missed our extensive I/O coverage, both of these devices bring Google's new Android Wear platform to a decidedly boxy form factor, with the slightly larger Samsung device edging out the G Watch just slightly in size and specs. The LG G Watch is available in black and white variants at $229, while the Gear Live only showed up in black on our afternoon refresh-fest (though it comes ...

The LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are both set to begin sales (or pre-sales) later today, so if you're interested in purchasing an Android Wear watch that's not the Moto 360, you're probably debating between the two. To make the question of LG G Watch vs Samsung Gear live a bit easier, we've put together a table to let you quickly compare the specs of the two smartwatches. On paper, there's not much different between the two. There are differences in four key areas, which is what you should bring into consideration when debating which one to buy. The first is the screen. The G Watch's ...

Just a few weeks ago, if you told us Samsung was going to launch an Android Wear-powered smartwatch at Google I/O, we'd have thought you're crazy. But a report earlier this week suggested otherwise, and it turns out said report was correct. Samsung launched its Gear Live today at I/O, and it'll be available for order later today, so you're probably wondering -- what are the Samsung Gear Live specs? We've gone ahead and brought the specs for the Gear Live all into one place, and it's actually not too terrible a product. It's similar to a midrange phone just as the G Watch, but it does ...